Page 20 of Flirting With Disaster

He’s not a date, he’s a punishment. Is he regaling you with an account of his comic book collection and video game scores?

Jude laughed. I’m hanging up now.

Finish your dinner and meet me in my room at ten.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Wow, CAPS LOCK. You are in a saucy mood. Perfect for what I have planned. Do you want to know what that is, Ms. Duffy? You’re going to tell me what you want. Every intimate detail. Dirty talk? I’ll give it to you. You want gentle or to be fucked hard, that’s what you’ll get. Be naked on my bed in one hour. There are places on your body that need my attention. Places I’ve fantasized about. Places that make me hard every time I’m near you. It’s time you took care of that.

Jude dropped the phone like it had spontaneously combusted. Shit, the sensuality in his voice echoed right through the letters. The man was a villain. A monster. A multifaceted, sexy, irresistible temptation.

Caps lock is not saucy. It indicates rage and anger. Now leave me alone. My date and I are having a wonderful time.

I doubt discussing the attributes of SpongeBob wearing underwear is stimulating conversation. Are you wearing underwear?

“Damn spying waiter,” Jude mumbled.

There is something about

you… Something that makes me want to…overcome. You’ve enchanted me, Jude Duffy.

No, no, no. She didn’t want to enchant him. She didn’t want to be drawn in by his wounded soul. She just wanted sex. Sex and a baby. That’s it. If she gave in, she’d fall in love. And he’d get over his lustful infatuation by the end of the week and tear out her heart.

That’s a lot of responsibility on me.

Who was she kidding? She was already falling for him. Ridiculous.

She held the phone in the air to be sure he saw her click the power button. “Now, Mr. Fantome, are you currently in a relationship? Have you recently been tested for sexually transmitted diseases?”

What the hell was she saying? The beautiful piano music slowly shifted into Unchained Melody. The sensual chords were more drawn out than the popular rendition, the new version eerie and lovely and yearning. That song had the Count written all over it. Damn the man. Was there anything he couldn’t do? Oh yeah, fall in love with her.

She sat captured by the seductive aria until a deep tenor from the man who wanted to overcome floated around the rafters.

I’ve hungered for your touch…

She silently recited the entire song along with him. Words she’d always wished applied to her.

God speed your love to me…

At the conclusion, after her emotions had been ripped, torn and shredded by what would never be, after a fatal burst of God-I-could-love-this-man erupted in her chest, she slammed her fork down and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not feeling well, Mr. Fantome.”

“It’s Dick.”

She smirked. “Yes, it is. Do you mind if we call it a night?” She stood and gathered her belongings, then rushed toward the lobby to escape to her room and regroup.

As she rounded the corner, she bumped directly into her phantom. His scent, emanating from the warmth of his chest, enveloped her in a fog of precocious need.

She stepped back and straightened her blouse, hoping to emotionally distance herself from Beck and his assault on her senses. “I didn’t know you were so musically talented.”

“It’s a gift I don’t often share.” A rueful smile played across his lips. One that seemed forced. As if he’d shared some clandestine confession.

She understood. Certain activities churned up heart-wrenching pain for those with great loss. How long did one need to suffer? Her eyes locked on his. She was done suffering, done with cowardice. “Do you believe in love, Mr. Beckette?” If he did, would she consider taking a shot at love again?

His head tilted, and he gazed at her as if looking upon a silly, naive child. “For others, maybe.”

She ignored the clench of her heart, her courage receding. “Yes, that’s what I thought.” She needed to protect herself from falling in love with any more emotionally unavailable men. It was time to give up. To focus on her goal and have a child she could love and be loved by.

She tried to maneuver past him, but he caught her around the waist with one arm. The pocket of her suit jacket ripped, and she slipped it off to examine the damage.

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